HOUSTON — There was another shakeup in the College Football Playoff rankings after last weekend’s upsets, and now we’re just days away from knowing exactly which 12 teams will compete for a national title.
As for the Texas Longhorns, they moved up to No. 2 after beating Texas A&M on Saturday. They took the spot that Ohio State had last week before falling to Michigan. The Buckeyes dropped down to No. 6. Texas will now take on the No. 5 team in the CFP rankings — the Georgia Bulldogs — in the SEC championship game this Saturday. The Horns will get a shot at redemption against the only team that beat them this year.
Another Texas team — SMU — moved up to No. 8 in the CFP rankings and has a date with Clemson in the ACC championship game. Clemson is the No. 17 team in the new CFP poll.
Here are the new College Football Playoff rankings, as of Tuesday, Dec. 3.
- Oregon (12-0)
- Texas (11-1)
- Penn State (11-1)
- Notre Dame (11-1)
- Georgia (10-2)
- Ohio State (10-2)
- Tennessee (10-2)
- SMU (11-1)
- Indiana (11-1)
- Boise State (11-1)
- Alabama (9-3)
- Miami (10-2)
- Ole Miss (9-3)
- South Carolina (9-3)
- Arizona State (10-2)
- Iowa State (10-2)
- Clemson (9-3)
- BYU (10-2)
- Missouri (9-3)
- UNLV (10-2)
- Illinois (9-3)
- Syracuse (9-3)
- Colorado (9-3)
- Army (10-1)
- Memphis (10-2)
If the season ended today, both Texas and SMU would get byes, according to CBS Sports
Based on the new rankings released Dec. 3, CBS Sports posted what the College Football Playoff bracket would be.
- It would have Oregon as the top seed. They would get a bye, then would face the winner of Tennessee-Ohio State.
- Texas would be the No. 2 seed and would get a bye. They’d face the winner of Indiana-Georgia
- SMU would be the No. 3 seed. They’d also get a bye and would face the winner of Alabama-Notre Dame.
- Finally, the No. 4 seed would be Boise State. After their bye, they’d face the winner of Arizona State-Penn State.
The rankings don’t match the seedings because of the way the College Football Playoffs work.
How the College Football Playoffs will work
The five highest-ranked conference champions are automatically in the College Football Playoff. The seven highest-ranked teams remaining will fill out the bracket of 12.
The top four teams will get a bye in the first round of the playoff. Of the remaining teams, the higher-ranked teams in each matchup will host the first-round games. Here is how those first-round matchups line up.
- No. 5 vs. No. 12
- No. 6 vs. No. 11
- No. 7 vs. No. 10
- No. 8 vs. No. 9
Once those games are over, there will be eight teams remaining. The next round – the quarterfinals – will be played in bowls with a rotating schedule.
This year, those quarterfinal games will be played at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31), Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Jan. 1), Prudential Rose Bowl (Jan. 1) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1).
Then the semifinal round, which will include the four teams remaining, will be played at the Capital One Orange Bowl (Jan. 1) and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl (Jan. 10).
The national title game will be in Atlanta on Jan. 20.
Here’s more about the College Football Playoffs from a story we posted earlier in the season.
When will the final CFP rankings be released?
You won’t have to wait much longer to find out the 12 teams playing for the national title. Those come out this Sunday, Dec. 8 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Houston time.